خیلی

Persian

Etymology

From Arabic خَيْل‎ (ḵayl, “horses”). [1]

Pronunciation
  • (Dari, nonstandard) IPA(key): /xeːli/
  • (Tajik) IPA(key): /ˈxajle/

[2] [3]

Dari بسیار‎
Iranian Persian خیلی
Tajik бисёр (bisyor)

Adverb

خیلی • (xeyli)

  1. very

Adjective

خیلی از • (xeyli az)

  1. many of
    ‏خیلی از دوستام فیلمای آمریکایی رو دوست دارن.‎‎
    xeyli az dustâm filmâye âmrikâi ro dust dâran.
    A lot of my friends like American movies.

Usage notes

بسیار‎ (bisyâr) and خیلی‎ (xeyli) are both used in all dialects. In Iranian Persian خیلی‎ (xeyli) is used most of the time and بسیار‎ (besyâr) acts as a more emphatic version of خیلی‎ (xeyli). The opposite is true in Tajik Persian. In Dari بسیار‎ (bisyâr) is slightly more common but neither word is more emphatic than the other.[2] The classical pronunciation of خیلی‎ (xaylê) has been lost in most dialects. While the classical pronunciation is still official in Standard Dari,[4] it is rarely observed.

Descendants
  • → Armenian: խելի (xeli), խեյլի (xeyli), խիլի (xili), ⇒ խել մը (xel mə)
  • → Azerbaijani: xeyli
  • → Kumyk: хыйлы (xıylı)
  • → Kyrgyz: кыйла (kıyla)
  • → Lezgi: хейлин (χejlin), хейлах (χejlaχ)
  • → Ottoman Turkish: خیلی‎
  • → Urdu: خیلے‎
  • Uzbek: xiyla

References
  1. According to Dehkhoda, the semantic shift is from Saadi Shirazi's Gulistān:
    1258, Saadi Shirazi, Gulistan:
    ‏اندک اندک خیلی شود و قطره قطره سیلی گردد‎
    (please add an English translation of this quote)
  2. "Intro to Tajik Persian”, in Persian Language Online, 2020-06-12, accessed 2022-12-30, "Tajik хеле/ḫele may be more intense than бисёр/bisyār, where as the Iranian خیلی/ḫeylī is less intense than بسیار/besyār. The classical pronunciation of خیلی is ḫaylē, which has not been retained by the common pronunciation of either varieties."
  3. خیلی in Wilson English-Dari Dictionary, Webonary, 2021-10-06, accessed 2022-12-30, "very- 1) بسیار besIyAr 2) خیلی khElI 3) زیاد zIyAt/zIyAd"
  4. خیلی, in قاموس کبیر افغانستان, Afghan Dictionary, 2017
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